Month: September 2018

Divergent

Veronica Roth

Beatrice Prior, a 16-year-old girl, is no different from other teenagers in her city, except that she is hiding a terrible secret. In her world, all who turn 16 must undergo the choosing ceremony to settle on one of five factions. Bravery, selflessness, honesty, kindness, and knowledge are what each value and whatever you chose you must defend before your blood and family. Beatrice’s deadly secret that she is divergent could destroy her and her family, she doesn’t fit in one faction, but multiple! Her choices are what is keeping her alive, and she must adjust to the new life she chooses. But this can be difficult when evil is being planned right behind your back. Everything has changed in this new life of hers, even her name. Tris, her new set of friends, and a mysterious instructor named Four must join together before all they know and love is lost.

When you start reading you will be swept away into this new world. Veronica Roth has done a great job captivating her readers and truly enveloping them into the text. This extraordinary YA novel has it all, from an intriguing dystopian plot, thrilling action, intense suspense, and touching love. You’ll have no trouble forming a connection with Tris as she battles for the truth of her divergence and unlocks the secrets that have caged them all. Unravel the true meaning of family, sacrifice, bravery, and love through this phenomenal dystopian novel and the mysterious world created by Veronica Roth. – Ananya M.

Furyborn

Claire Legrand

Follows two fiercely independent young women, centuries apart, who hold the power to save their world…or doom it.

When assassins ambush her best friend, the crown prince, Rielle Dardenne risks everything to save him, exposing her ability to perform all seven kinds of elemental magic. The only people who should possess this extraordinary power are a pair of prophesied queens: a queen of light and salvation and a queen of blood and destruction. To prove she is the Sun Queen, Rielle must endure seven trials to test her magic. If she fails, she will be executed…unless the trials kill her first.

A thousand years later, the legend of Queen Rielle is a mere fairy tale to bounty hunter Eliana Ferracora. When the Undying Empire conquered her kingdom, she embraced violence to keep her family alive. Now, she believes herself untouchable–until her mother vanishes without a trace, along with countless other women in their city. To find her, Eliana joins a rebel captain on a dangerous mission and discovers that the evil at the heart of the empire is more terrible than she ever imagined.

As Rielle and Eliana fight in a cosmic war that spans millennia, their stories intersect, and the shocking connections between them ultimately determine the fate of their world–and of each other.

Rook

Sharon Cameron

In the Sunken City, which was once Paris, things have a way of repeating themselves. The new revolution means hundreds of opposing citizens are being executed, except for the ones who disappear. Countless prison cells are left empty, and in place of prisoners is a single red-tipped rook feather. The citizens of the city love the Red Rook’s work, but those in the government see them as a traitor. On the other side in the Commonwealth, a young Sophia Bellamy is preparing for her arranged marriage to Rene Hasard, the only way in which she can save her family from complete financial ruin. When the search for the Red Rook ends up right at her house, she discovers her fiancé has hidden information, but what her fiancé doesn’t know is that she hasn’t been completely honest herself. As tension in the Sunken City grows, Sophia and Rene are enveloped in never-ending chases, but all is not lost as Miss Bellamy has quite a few secrets of her own.

This daring novel will have you on the edge of your seat, with a suspenseful plot line and a new twist around every corner. Gripping action, heartwarming love, darings sacrifices, and killing suspense complete this outstanding novel. It will make you question the true meaning of heroism. Criminal? Spirit? Or last hope? Who is the Red Rook really? What dark secrets are the walls of the Bellamy house hiding? Sharon Cameron will keep you thirsty for answers as the mystery unfolds along the streets which were once Paris. -Ananya M.

The Wicked Deep

Shea Ernshaw

Where, two centuries ago, three sisters were sentenced to death for witchery. Stones were tied to their ankles and they were drowned in the deep waters surrounding the town.

Now, for a brief time each summer, the sisters return, stealing the bodies of three weak-hearted girls so that they may seek their revenge, luring boys into the harbor and pulling them under.

Like many locals, seventeen-year-old Penny Talbot has accepted the fate of the town. But this year, on the eve of the sisters’ return, a boy named Bo Carter arrives; unaware of the danger he has just stumbled into.

Mistrust and lies spread quickly through the salty, rain-soaked streets. The townspeople turn against one another. Penny and Bo suspect each other of hiding secrets. And death comes swiftly to those who cannot resist the call of the sisters.

But only Penny sees what others cannot. And she will be forced to choose: save Bo, or save herself.

Run

Eric Walters

In trouble again after a suspension from school and a runaway attempt, Winston is sent to spend time with his father—a journalist who hasn’t been around much since his family split up a year ago.Travelling to Nova Scotia with his father, who is covering what he thinks is just a human interest story about a man trying to run across the country, Winston spends a day with Terry Fox and his best friend, Doug. Their determination to achieve what seems like an impossible goal makes a big impression on Winston, and he takes courage and inspiration from Terry’s run. He is overjoyed when his father’s article about the Marathon of Hope ignites public interest across the country.

But when Winston discovers that his father’s next article about the Marathon of Hope will characterize Terry and Doug in an unflattering way, he is furious with his father and fearful of betraying his friends. Unsure of what to do or where to turn, Winston decides it is time to make a run for it himself…

Tales of the Peculiar

Ransom Riggs

Tales of the Peculiar is a selection of short, and strange stories set before the novel Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. In this collection, Ransom Riggs has created a number of enchanting tales that take you through a wild journey from a land of law-abiding cannibals, a kingdom with a princess who’s a half-snake, and far away to ancient China where a young man has seaweed growing out of his armpits. In a magical, fun-loving way, Riggs tells tales with themes of discrimination, racism, and empowerment that are sure to send you right into each story!

Personally, I loved the book. I thought each story was fresh and inviting, and I read them to my younger siblings who loved it as well. I love Riggs’ main series, and this spin-off is something anyone could read with or without reading the main series and still feel the magical thrill of a tall tale without any sense of confusion. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who loves the fantastical! – Jacqueline S.

Neverworld Wake

Marisha Pessl

Once upon a time, back at Darrow-Harker School, Beatrice Hartley and her six best friends were the cool kids, the beautiful ones. Then the shocking death of Jim—their creative genius and Beatrice’s boyfriend—changed everything.

One year after graduation, Beatrice is returning to Wincroft—the seaside estate where they spent so many nights sharing secrets, crushes, plans to change the world—hoping she’ll get to the bottom of the dark questions gnawing at her about Jim’s death. But as the night plays out in a haze of stilted jokes and unfathomable silence, Beatrice senses she’s never going to know what really happened.

Then a mysterious man knocks on the door. Blithely, he announces the impossible: time for them has become stuck, snagged on a splinter that can only be removed if the former friends make the harshest of decisions. Now Beatrice has one last shot at answers… and at life.

The Circus

Olivia Levez

To others, it might seem like Willow has all she could ever need, from a pony to a big house and even her own maid. Although, what others don’t realize is that since she was little the only thing Willow’s ever wanted, and never had, was a loving family that she could spend time with, ask advice from, a family that genuinely cares about her. On the verge of getting married to a woman half his age, Willow’s father never spent much time with her, opting to spend his hours working and having the maid play with/occupy Willow instead. Her mother left, joining the circus when Willow was young, leaving her and her father.

In this book, Olivia Levez tells the not-so-classic story of a girl (Willow) who runs away from home to join the circus. The book is filled with twists and turns as it follows Willow as she tries to survive on her own with nothing more than a bit of money and a few of her belongings. On the streets, Willow meets people who help her stay alive and follow her dream of joining the circus and others who will try to slow her down.

From the moment I started reading this book, I didn’t want to put it down. It will bring you through a rollercoaster of emotions, and you’ll just want to keep reading to figure out if Willow makes it. “The Circus” is a realistic fiction book, but it’s filled with adventure, humour and friendship. – Yara M.

Social Intercourse

Greg Howard

Beckett Gaines, a gay teen living in South Carolina, has his world turned upside-down by a jock in this laugh-out-loud novel that’s Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda meets The Parent Trap.

Beck:
The Golden Girls-loving, out-and-proud choir nerd growing up in the “ass-crack of the Bible belt.”

Jax:
The Golden Boy, star quarterback with a slick veneer facing uncomfortable truths about himself and his past.

When Beck’s emotionally fragile dad starts dating the recently single (and supposedly lesbian) mom of former bully, Jaxon Parker, Beck is not having it. Jax isn’t happy about the situation either, holding out hope that his moms will reunite and restore the only stable home he’s ever known. Putting aside past differences, the boys plot to derail the budding romance between their parents at their conservative hometown’s first-ever Rainbow Prom. Hearts will be broken, new romance will bloom, but nothing will go down the way Beck and Jax have planned.

In his hilarious and provocative debut, Greg Howard examines the challenges of growing up different in a small southern town through the lens of colorful and unforgettable characters who stay with you long after the last drop of sweet tea.